Social Security has closed the Portland, Oregon, post office box that took repayments of overpaid benefits. Checks that reach it after Dec. 30 will be sent back to the sender, and the agency now wants repayments mailed to a box in Philadelphia. The change matters most to people whose overpayment notice still carries the old Portland address.
What Social Security changed
An internal emergency message to Social Security staff, EM-26035, says the agency retired its Programmatic Remittance Lockbox #5480 on Sept. 30, 2026. A lockbox is a post office box run by a bank for the government, where payments are opened and deposited without passing through a local office. This one is run by the Treasury Department’s Fiscal Service and its financial agent, U.S. Bank, and Social Security started using it in 2021.
The message says some overpayment notices direct payments to U.S. Bank, P.O. Box 5480, Portland, OR 97228-9816. U.S. Bank deposited those payments with the Federal Reserve Bank. The programs covered include retirement and survivor benefits, Supplemental Security Income, disability and Medicare.
Mail is being forwarded for three months after Sept. 30. The message states that “any items received after December 30, 2026, will be returned to sender.” Staff are told to tell anyone whose mail comes back to send payment directly to MATPSC, P.O. Box 3430, Philadelphia, PA 19122.
The question for people repaying by check is which address is printed on the notice or coupon in hand, and whether the check will be in the mail before Dec. 30. Mail to Portland is forwarded until then, but a check sent to the Philadelphia address does not depend on forwarding.
A repayment check sent to the old Portland box after Dec. 30 comes back, and an overpayment left unpaid can keep growing into a collection problem. The Social Security Check Protection Kit lays out the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection (SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634) and an overpayment response worksheet.
Get the overpayment forms and response worksheet in the Check Protection Kit →
Why the box was closed
The message gives one reason: Executive Order 14247, which it says requires federal agencies to move away from paper checks and retire lockboxes. It does not say when Social Security will stop taking check payments altogether, and it does not describe a new online option. It is written for employees, so it does not list what the public should do beyond the new address.
An older Social Security policy page, GN 02403.163, explains how the lockbox worked. Checks come in with a printed payment coupon from the overpayment billing notice, often called “green mail,” and a machine reads the coupon. Payments that arrive without a coupon, or in a form the machine cannot handle, were already sent to the Philadelphia center for hand processing. That policy page still lists the Portland address.
Other ways to repay
Mailing a check is only one route. Social Security’s overpayments publication says people who are not receiving benefits can pay by credit card, debit card or bank account at pay.gov, through their bank’s bill pay to “Social Security Administration,” by check for the full amount within 30 days, or through a monthly installment plan arranged with the agency.
For people who are still receiving benefits, the usual method is withholding. The publication says Social Security withholds 10 percent of the monthly benefit or $10, whichever is more, and that withholding typically begins about 60 days after the notice. A person can ask for a smaller amount, no less than $10, or pay more than 10 percent.
Disagreeing with the overpayment
Repaying is not the only response to a notice. Anyone who thinks the debt or the amount is wrong can file Form SSA-561, a request for reconsideration, in writing or online. The deadline is 60 days from receiving the notice, and Social Security assumes the notice arrived five days after its date unless the person shows otherwise. A later filing needs a good reason.
A waiver is separate. Form SSA-632 asks Social Security not to collect, and the publication says there is no deadline for it. The person has to show that the overpayment was not their fault and that repaying would cause hardship or be unfair. For overpayments of $1,000 or less where the person was not at fault, a waiver can be requested by phone. Collection stops while an appeal or waiver request is pending.
Mailing a repayment before Dec. 30
The first step is to look at the notice or coupon and find the address. If it says Portland, P.O. Box 5480, the new Philadelphia address from the agency’s message is MATPSC, P.O. Box 3430, Philadelphia, PA 19122. Anyone unsure can call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213, or TTY 1-800-325-0778, and ask which address applies to the specific debt. The publication suggests calling early in the day and, if possible, later in the week or later in the month.
Keeping proof matters more than usual during a mailing change. A copy of the check, the notice number written on the memo line and a record of the mailing date make it easier to show a payment was sent on time if a check is returned or goes astray. Paying by pay.gov or bank bill pay leaves a confirmation, which a mailed check does not.
The agency’s own message is the clearest statement of the deadline. The three-month forwarding period ends with Dec. 30, 2026, and the message says items arriving after it will go back to the sender.
A returned repayment check after Dec. 30
A check that comes back from Portland after Dec. 30 can leave an overpayment looking unpaid while withholding or collection continues. The Social Security Check Protection Kit gives the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection (SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634) plus an overpayment response worksheet to keep the dates and amounts in order. The kit runs 75 pages.
Keep repayment dates straight with the overpayment worksheet in the Check Protection Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
